Patrick Wolf releasing double album called Sundark & Riverlight, handing out wolf cupcakes on world tour

In 2002, when Patrick Wolf was 19, he released his very first EP, The Patrick Wolf EP. Back then, he was playing in folk clubs and galleries and on the street, playing with just one instrument and no microphone. He recorded his first album with a 4-track and a laptop and whatever else he could find.

Now, Patrick Wolf’s celebrating 10 years of crankin’ out tunes by releasing Sundark & Riverlight via his own label, Bloody Chamber Music, as well as Essential Music. It’s a double album that will feature re-recordings of songs from all over Wolf’s catalog, songs that still resonate with him today. Wolf says, “As a songwriter I realised that some songs take on a life of their own once released. I never knew that ‘Paris’ from Lycanthropy would become such an anthem for my crowd. Often when I sing the songs live after they are recorded, new words or meanings come to light then I improvise depending on how I am feeling that night. I thought it was time after ten years to take a moment to understand and document what these songs have grown up to be while I’ve been traveling them around the world the last decade.”

Wolf recorded this completely acoustic album in Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. He recorded the string quartet on the balcony of the wood room studio so that, for the listener, they’ll sound like they’re playing somewhere near the sun. He recorded the woodwind quartet in The Pool Studio, where he hoped to create the sound of a reflection on water. He muses on the process in a letter on his website.

Patrick Wolf isn’t just releasing a double album and baking wolf-shaped cakes to share; he’s also going on tour. He’ll have a piano, a Celtic harp, a dulcimer, and all sorts of other instruments with him, and while he’ll certainly play some of his reworked oldies off Sundark & Riverlight, he’ll be taking requests too. Hold on for the tracklist, but if there’s something you’re absolutely itchin’ to hear, send him a note on Facebook or Twitter.